Invalid sibling link, what's the CAUSE?

I bought my MBA on August 2012. I've seen a million threads of people reporting about those invalid sibling link errors. I started having this error last week. I did not exaclty find a fix, but, what I did was installing the OSX inside my external hard drive, booted into it, backed up my files, and finally, I just erased my Macintosh HD(aparently erasing the HD fix the error). After that I just restored my hard drive into my MacHD. To be sure, after completely erasing the Macintosh HD using Disk Utility, I verified my disk, and everything showed to be fine. Until then, everything is ok, got my MBA working as well. 2 days after, I got the same error. So my question is, what is causing this?? I was able to fix it but it came back again why?
I forgot to mention that I restored all my user setting after everything was done. I copied my <user> folder to the Users folder and created an user with the same name as the folder I just copied. Maybe some broken files came inside it? I don't know.
I'm erasing my HD again. I hope not have to erase everything again, is there anyway to prevent causing this???

Your search for a sole underlying cause of directory corruption is not likely to be rewarding, but the solution almost always requires replacing broken hardware.
... I was able to fix it but it came back again why?
No software, including Disk Utility, can permanently repair broken hardware, so your experience is not surprising.
Confirm that you are not running any third party "optimizing" or "cleanup" software or ill-conceived "anti-virus" utilities. Such junk may be responsible for the problem you cite.
Contact AppleCare and explain the problem. If you purchased it in August of last year it may be on the cusp of its warranty expiration, so don't wait. If your MBA is no longer covered under AppleCare, consider purchasing a replacement from OWC:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/SSD/OWC/Aura_Pro_Air_2012
It's likely to be much less expensive than having Apple fix it.

Similar Messages

Invalid sibling link?

Hi,
Today my macbook pro started powering down after hanging during the boot process. going to verbose mode, i noticed an "invalid sibling link" error during the drive check, just before the cpu halted. the hardware diagnostics say nothing's wrong with the hardware.
I tried booting into single user mode, and running fsck_hfs -r, but that gets to the same point and throws an error, and i still cant boot. i cant get an appointment with the apple store until monday, and i have school work to do. what can i do to address this problem?
oh, and i've tried booting to the install disk but for some reason that doesnt work. the drive spins up and then it goes to the gray apple screen, which hangs and then powers down.
suggestions?

+Invalid Sibling Link+ can usually be fixed by the following utility......
If Disk Utility can't fix it, you'll need a more robust utility for the repair. I would recommend DiskWarrior. It is the best at directory repairs. It rebuilds then actually replaces your old directory. I feel every Mac owner should have a copy. Make sure you get the disk so you can boot up on it to run repairs. You can also install it on another drive and run it from there to repair this one. DW works faster that way.
I use DW once a month to try and catch errors in my system from getting too far out of hand. It has repaired every little and big issue I have ever had with my three Macs.
If you have a good backup, hopefully a clone of your system before you had issues, an Erase and Install will also rid you of this issue. But, beware! You will lose everything on the drive with this procedure. Let us know if you need help with that!
Good Luck! DALE
p.s. Here's a rewiew of DiskWarrior 4.

Re: Invalid sibling link came the reply

Hi Folks, I have a big problem, I was saving a document when the spinning beach ball arrived.
The computer just quit, i've never had Mac quit like that before.
I ran Disk Utility, (Invalid sibling link came the reply) I can see the drive greyed out, I highlight the
drive, the blue Mount button lights up but the HD doesn't mount.
I re-booted from my Diskwarrior cd and that way managed to bootup from an external HD.
I ran diskwarrior. When I reached the point to replace the directory I get a flag telling me that there
is not enough free disk space to perform a fail-safe replacement of the directory.
Does anyone know: How much space is required to replace the directory (I have 2.5 gig available)
Is there a way to pull stuff off the HD. !!!!
At this point I think a couple of glasses of vino calapsso is what I need.
What can I do next. Thanks very much in advance.......... B Taylor

Hi-
Does anyone know: How much space is required to replace the directory (I have 2.5 gig available)
Oh my! 10 to 15GB minimum free space, or no more than 80% capacity. You have problems....
At this point I think a couple of glasses of vino calapsso is what I need.
No, you need another hard drive.
Buy a new hard drive, and install it in the other hard drive bay. Format the new drive with Disk Utility, and install OS X. Boot to the new drive, and then you can move files to the new drive.

Error: Invalid sibling link...what to restore and what not to restore

I am two weeks from having done a reinstall and partial restore. My system has been locking up again frequently and my Disk Utility shows this error.
"Verifying volume “Macintosh HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
The volume Macintosh HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair"
When I did my previous restore, I only had a limited back up to my iMac account available. Just address info, stickies notes, iCal, preferences and Keychain data I think. Because a similar problem is recurring so quickly, my assumption is that I imported the corruption back in to my system.
First, is this a good assumption? Second, my system is still slighty operational now, so I was wondering what from my new back ups I should restore after a reinstall and what I should leave alone.
Thoughts?
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.10)

I am two weeks from having done a reinstall and
partial restore. My system has been locking up again
frequently and my Disk Utility shows this error.
I am thinking that you may have a harddware problem. I'd assume it is the harddrive. Is the machine still under applecare?
You may want to look into getting an external harddrive. With an external harddrive, you can clone your system and boot off the external harddrive. Cloning software: SuperDuper & carbon copy cloner
When I did my previous restore, I only had a limited
back up to my iMac account available. Just address
info, stickies notes, iCal, preferences and Keychain
data I think. Because a similar problem is recurring
so quickly, my assumption is that I imported the
corruption back in to my system.
Hard to say. If the backup files were corrupted, this would be a problem. Where you having a problem when you made a copy of the files?
First, is this a good assumption?
I haven't resorted that many Mac system, so I forget the terminology.
Did you do a clean install? That is wipe out the files on the harddrive before restoring? I'd have reformatted the harddrive using disk utility before installing.
Second, my system
is still slighty operational now, so I was wondering
what from my new back ups I should restore after a
reinstall and what I should leave alone.
Thoughts?
Boot in safe mode. Hold down the shift key when powering on the machine. This will run a disk repair program.
See this article:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107393
Have you tried disk first aid?
You will need to boot from you installation disk. I have not done this, but here are some hints:
see this article
Or from mrtotes article :
Boot from the OS X Install disk and from the Menu Bar choose Disk Utility. Then run "Repair Disk" and "Repair Disk Permissions" on your hard disk.
Here the apple article on booting single user mode and using fsck. See the section on Use fsck:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Perhaps Disk Warrior will be of some help:
http://www.alsoft.com/DiskWarrior/

Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.

Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.Powerbook G4 10.4.11 won't start from hard drive . Tried repair, " The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.
The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).

kauribill wrote:
" The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).Invalid sibling link,invalid B tree header, invalid map node,invalid record type,the volume needs to be repaired.
The underlying task reported failure on exit (-9972).
This is a directory issue that Disk Utility cannot fix. Although it manifests itself as a software issue sometimes it may be hardware based. See DiskUtility reports "Underlying task reported failure" when repairing avolume http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1901?viewlocale=en_US". You can try using a utility like TechTool Pro, Drive Genius or Disk Warrior to repair and replace the directory. Another option would be to use the Archive and Install feature to reinstall. If the problem returns after correction you may have a failing or failed HDD.
cornelius

TS1367 I have MacOS 10.5.8. It is not booting. It stops at the blue screen. I used the disc utility - verify disc. I get the following message - Invalid sibling link. Volume check failed. Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed. Please give a solution a

I have MacOS 10.5.8. It is not booting. It stops at the blue screen. I used the disc utility - verify disc. I get the following message - Invalid sibling link. Volume check failed. Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed. Please give a solution anybody?

Many times I tried to simply update from 10.5.8 without any success. It starts and after few minutes ...
I used many different install disks (I bought ofiicial release from Mac seller), so I think this is not a problem with wrong version or bad install disk. A few days ago I've got back my computer from Apple technical support and technician told me he had this same problem with system installation

Invalid sibling link error

I have a 15" PB which gave an "invalid sibling link error" one month ago and I was not able to even repair it using DiskWarrior. I have Apple Care Protection plan, so I sent it for repairs and the repair guys replaced the motherboard as they suspected it was the reason. On return, I reformatted the HD and installed everything from stratch. Everything was working fine till last Saturday morning, when computer would not boot up. So I checked using Disk Utility from PB DVD, and the dreaded "invalid sibling error" came up again. Since I have a bootable backup of the HD, I formatted the HD and tried to load the system on the HD from the backup copy. But the writing of backup using CCC hung up and I had to quit it. After that I was not able to find the HD using Disk Utility from DVD.
I have sent it for repairs again, but can anyone help me understand the core problem here. Since last time they replaced the motherboard, I think they will replace the HD this time around. Is the logic board, motherboard or the HD that is the root cause of the problem?
Powerbook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7) 100GB HDD, 1.5GB RAM

I had never heard of "invalid sibling link error" until you post, and when I ran a search on it the best explanation I could find is that it is a directory-related problem. See the following (assuming it is correct): http://www.computing.net/mac/wwwboard/forum/2584.html The suggestion there, though, is that DIsk Warrior should be able to fix the problem, and you've already told us that you tried using Disk Warrior on it and it did not work.
Very puzzling. Please post back what happens when you get your PB back from being repaired.
Good luck.
-- JDee

Recurring Invalid Sibling Link

Hey Everyone,
I've had my 12" powerbook for perhaps a year and a half now and hadn't had a problem with up until maybe just before christmas - the problem being an invalid sibling link in the file structure.
I did a lot of looking around the web about this and concluded the best solution would be to backup, wipe the drive and then move eveything back on. I did this (with great difficulty seeing as some files seem to give it a hard time accessing and it'll often just sit there clicking the hard disk in a very annoying and very regular fashion) and reinstalled Tiger. For a while everything seemed to be fine, but soon I noticed the drive doing it's weird unproductive clicking again (sort of like click click cliiiiiick) and it'll sometimes just lock up the system til it's through clicking (this happens when i'm trying to open a few apps at a time like safari, itunes and MSN).
I verified the disk back when i first noticed it clicking again and everything was fine - i did the same again last night and am told there's an invalid sibling link. Thing is, surely this shouldn't happen less than two months after I wiped the disk the first time? I sincerely hope this isn't a hardware problem though since it's happened again I'm kinda worried it might be. Another idea i was wondering about is, could it be due to corrupt files somewhere? I had particular trouble moving some files over to my firewire hard disk when i was backing up - could that cause problems like this?
I tried running fsck and it couldn't do anything because of the invalid link.
This is really irritating as I'm an English student and really rely on my powerbook for essays/research not to mention MSN, iMovie and Warcraft III!

AFAIK, neither MacJanitor nor Onyx could have caused the problem, they are just GUI wrappers for tools that are part of Mac OS X. And journaling should in theory prevent any damage to the filesystem caused by improperly shutting the system down.
As to your question "Is there any alternative to Diskwarrior/wiping the disk?" the answer is no, at least none that I know of. There are other utilities out there and you may want to consider them before deciding a purchase, but in the end you're going to do something like that.
This is not a data corruption problem with any of your files. The corruption is in the data that Mac OS X keeps internally about the structure of the filesystem and the physical location of the files on disk. The problem itself may end up causing file loss/corruption, but the other way around is unlikely IMHO.
Why this is happening to you repeatedly I don't know, but until you find it out (if ever), I think DiskWarrior is your best option because chances are that you're going to need it more than once. Moreover, you should really consider running DiskWarrior regularly until the cause of the problem is found. Otherwise you may end up losing and/or corrupting your own files as a result of the corruption in the filesystem.
Finally, about the start up in Safe Mode problem. Does it always happen, i.e. are you always unable to startup that way, or only on the first attempt, or what? Does it happen when you start up from the internal disk only, or also when starting up from the external disk? If the internal only, did it also happen when Disk Utility reported no problems on that disk?
One of the things starting up in Safe Mode does is automatically checking the filesystem on the startup volume, so it should come as no surprise that it fails in your case. And yes, you should be worried about it, but probably no more that you are by the invalid sibling link problem, as they both are likely the same problem.
iMac G5 17" (iSight) Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Disk Utility- Invalid Sibling Link

Can anyone tell me what this is about
Verifying volume “G5 HD”
Checking HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link
The volume G5 HD needs to be repaired.
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
I had a similiar problem and posted this
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3486224#3486224
I have erased and installed the complete system (10.4) again and only been using Safari and ichat for a few days. I have updated all software etc.
I was about to migrate all my files back from an External HD FW and decided to Verify the disk quickly and this message came up.
Do i have to buy another hard drive?
If so what do you recommend? (about 250gb)
G5 2.3DP Mac OS X (10.4) G3 Pisimo 400, Maxtor 250gb External FW HD, ipod etc

If you have erased (but not zero'd the drive) and re-installed 10.4 after the first problem, and then it has happened again, you could try an erase with zeros (select 'Security Options' in Erase) and a complete new install of 10.4 and combo update to 10.4.8
http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/macosx1048comboupdateppc.html
'Zeroing' is supposed to map out the bad blocks on the drive so that they are not used.
When you have re-installed, you could run Disk Utility(the one on the 10.4.8 drive) and Verify Disk on the boot drive a couple of times. If there is any sniff of an error, see below.
But you may feel happier to replace the drive, as they are not that expensive. I have a Seagate 300GB as the second, 'data' drive, which was a good size/price combination at the time of purchase, but you may want a smaller, faster one as your boot drive. You will find many recommendations if you browse/search the forum.
Note that it is not impossible that other problems are causing the directory corruption - but getting the drive running right would be my priority. Good Luck.

Time Machine Backup on External Drive Invalid sibling link

I've used time machine to backup macbook air for several months. From Feb 2011 without any problems until about 2 months ago. I started to get the message that backups could not be started.
I realized that the disk would not mount right away. And after about 10 minutes or more I would get the message that my disk could not be mounted. The error said my data could be backed up and I should do it right away.
Okay, so I try to copy my backup files using finder and get an error saying I don't have permissions to copy data.
My research indicates my hard drive is failing, which is unfortunate, since I bought it within the last year :-(
Okay, so now I am trying to get my months worth of backups off the drive and this is proving to be quite difficult...actually, impossible.
Here are my latest attempts at resolving my issue:
1. Ran Repair Disk - reusts:
          error: Could not repair disk and something about backing up my data and reformating the disk
2. Ran fsck_hfs -f command in terminal
     The system indicated it was executing the command and about 2 or 3 minutes, I think the command prompt appeared. No other message
3. Run repair disk again - My results:
     Checking catalog file.
     INvalid sibling link
     rebuilding catalog B-Tree
     The volume My Passport could not be repaired
     Volume repair complete
     Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required
     Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restore your backed up files
4. Created a new partition on another external drive and did a restore in Disk Utility from the broken drive to the new partition on the other drive. Took a few hours. Unfortunately, I just created the same problem on that partition (invalid sibling link)
Any other ideas on how I can rescue my backup data from the My Passport drive? I can see it in finder but I can't copy it do my other drive!
Research on forums and other sites have mentioned cloning the drive using "dd" command. Is this the same as the disk utility restore?
Is there some way I can change the permissions of the disk/partitition/files to enable me to copy the data to the new external drive?
Here is what the system looks like: Mac HD is my mac mini; My book is the WD 1TB external drive usb connected; My Passport is the broken external drive with the time machine backups that I can't get access to.
unknown3c07544bc705:Volumes oshunj$ ls -ale
total 8
drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root    admin   170 Dec 4 09:40 .
0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit
drwxr-xr-x 29 root    wheel 1054 Dec 3 18:17 ..
lrwxr-xr-x   1 root    admin     1 Dec 3 18:10 Macintosh HD -> /
drwxr-xr-x@ 15 oshunj staff   578 Dec 3 20:46 My Book
drwxr-xr-x@ 14 oshunj staff   544 Oct 16 19:32 My Passport
unknown3c07544bc705:Volumes oshunj$ ls -Orbitlake /Volumes
total 4
     2 drwxr-xr-x@ 14 oshunj staff -       544 Oct 16 19:32 My Passport
335990 lrwxr-xr-x   1 root    admin -         1 Dec 3 18:10 Macintosh HD -> /
     2 drwxr-xr-x 29 root    wheel -      1054 Dec 3 18:17 ..
     2 drwxr-xr-x@ 15 oshunj staff -       578 Dec 3 20:46 My Book
10710 drwxrwxrwt@ 5 root    admin hidden 170 Dec 4 09:40 .
0: group:everyone deny add_file,add_subdirectory,directory_inherit,only_inherit

***Update to ask question***
I would love to setup my new mini like my MBA. Is there anything wrong with restoring my entire drive, I think it starts at /User/ level, to my mini????
You know you never know when you will need the backups. This makes me angry especially since I can see the files but can't repair the disk.
OTOH, I attempted something I just now read about, option-click on time machine icon. Funny thing, I selected other disk and my passport (original broken drive) popped up with time machine backups on it.
I, quite timidly, selected the disk, opened the time machine and traversed my broken drive with backups from feb.
hmmm. I then, selected some random pdf file to restore and behold, It was restored to my mac mini right before my eyes.
I'm confused. But I think I will go with your suggestion and just put the drive away in a closet somewhere and hope to never really need it. It is quite interesting though that I am unable to repair this disk but I can restore files from it....Odd, I tell you, odd....
Thanks

Start-Up: Folder with gray question mark / Disk Utility: Invalid Sibling Link

Yesterday, I was working on my computer and it froze up. My only option was to reboot by holding down the power key. When the computer restarted, the screen was all grey with a folder in the middle of the screen with a question mark.
I tried the following:
1) Boot up computer while holding down the "Option" key. - Didn't work.
2) Boot up the computer while holding down the "Shift" key. - Didn't work.
Since the first two options didn't work I inserted the original system install disk and booted up while holding down the "C" key. I selected "English" as the language and then opened "Disk Utilities." I pressed "Repair disk" within First Aid. The message I am getting is as follows:
"First Aid failed. Disk Utility stopped repairing "Macintosh HD" because the following error was encountered: Filesystem verify or repair failed."
The details screen shows the following:
"Verify and repair volume "Macintosh HD"
Checking Journaled HFS Plus volume.
Checking Extents Overflow file.
Checking Catalog file.
Invalid sibling link.
Rebuilding Catalog B-tree.
The volume could not be repaired.
Error: Filesystem verify or repair failed."
I ran the "Repair disk" function about 6 times but it was not successful.
I was then going to try to do an "Archive and Install" from the original system disk but when I go to do that no destination options appear at the "Select Destination: Where do you want to install Mac OS X?"
I have not backed up my data very recently (and a lot of what I have stored on this computer is work - I am a freelance designer) so I would like to do something that at least allows me to transfer my data off of my hard drive before reformatting or anything like that. Of course, if there is a less intrusive fix that can leave my hard drive in tact, that would be ideal.
Any advice? Tips? Solutions? I have a MacBook Pro, 15" that I purchased 3 years ago (my 3 year Apple Care plan just expired about a month ago).

You are in a tough situation. The disk appears unusable according to Disk Utility. As was suggested you may (only may) be able to salvage it with Disk Warrior (not sure about Data Rescue). DW can sometimes recover a drive that DU can't. But nothing else can be suggested.
If you can get that disk recovered then back it up ASAP, wipe the disk, reinitialize it, and verify it. But I'm the paranoid type, and with the kind of errors you show for that disk, I am not sure I would ever trust it again. At most I would relegate it to a scratch disk.
Note, if it is a drive that you bought, most drives have a 3 to 5 year warrantee period, so you could get it replaced by the manufacturer if it is within that warrantee period.

My external hard drive will not open and only shows up in Disk Utilities. When I try yo repair it, it give me and error of invalid sibling link. How do I fix my external hard drive?

My external hard drive will not open and only shows up in Disk Utilities. When I try yo repair it, it give me and error of invalid sibling link. How do I fix my external hard drive?

Invalid sibling link may not be fixable by Disk Utility. (Disk Utility is very conservative, and will not attempt repairs that might cause you to lose data.)
It is an indication of serious Directory damage.
that leaves
a) third-party Utilities that will take those risks, or
b) re-initializing the drive (which deletes all your data) and restoring from another backup source.
c) "Copying off whatever files you can salvage" has gone by, and you cannot copy anything off a drive that will not mount. You may be able to use "rescue" programs such as prosoft engineering Data Rescue to copy files to another drive, but that sounds a lot better than its reality. You may get many files, but not get ANY filenames.

Macbook not starting up - Invalid Sibling Link

Hi,
I have a Macbook Pro 13 inch (Early 2011). It refuses to start up anymore. I have done the following tests/checks
1. Try booting into safe mode. It gets stuck there as well.
2. Boot into single-user mode and run fsck. It get a "Could not repair Macinotish HD" (or something similar, I ran this a long time ago and am recalling what it said)
3. Booted using the OS X Install Disk, and ran Disk Utility. Tried repairing and got
Invalid sibling link
Rebuilding catalog B-tree
The volume Macintosh HD could be repaired
Volume repair complete.
Updating boot support partitions for the volume as required.
Error: Disk Utility can't repair this disk...disk, and restor your backed-up files.
4. I also ran fsck_hfs -r as some sites suggested, but this didn't work either.
I believe this is not a hard disk fault, since I can boot into my Windows partition without issue.
Is there any way to fix this problem WITHOUT having to reinstall the OS?
In cases reinstallation is the only option, how do I go about backing my data? Should I create a New Image (using Disk Utility) and back up everything on an external HD? Won't this also image the corrupted part?
Here's my problem with reinstalling the OS. I have a software that I have absolutely have to use in 3 days. However, I do not have access to the installation disks for that software. Thus, I would really not like formatting my HD. If I back up my data using the New image feature above, can I retrieve that software?
BTW, I also have access to another Windows laptop, if that will help at all.
This is a time urgent matter and I would be grateful if I get a reply asap. I really need my laptop to work. Thanks a lot!

Invalid Sibling Link > Invalid Sibling Link: Apple Support Communities
You may need Disk Warrior ...

Invalid Sibling link, Crashing, Unmounted HD?

I convinced my friend to purchase a mac because I have yet to have a single problem with mine. I fear that perhaps I lead him astray because he has had a slough of difficulties. Perhaps the quality standards at apple have faltered?
He has a Mac Book Pro (purchased 2 months ago perhaps?) with 10.4.9
This is the problem he has:
The computer froze while using the internet. After shutting it off and turning it on again it progresses to the gray screen with that little circle, the chime is heard, and then it shuts down after a minute by itself.
When using the installation disk it does not recognize the hard drive in order to install. When using disk utility, the following occurs:
When verifying the volume:
verifying volume
checking hfs plus volume
Checking extents overflow file
Checking catalogue file
Invalid Sibling link - this is displayed in red
The volume (macintosh hd) needs to be repaired. Error. The Underlying task reported failure on exit. (1 hfs volume checked, volume needs repair)- This is also in red
Then, in pop up window:
First aid failed. Disk utility stopped verifying (macintosh hd) because the following error was encountered: The Underlying task reported failure on exit.
When verifying the said volume, the same errors are given:
verifying volume
checking hfs plus volume
Checking extents overflow file
Checking catalogue file
Invalid Sibling link - in red
and so on...
He also noticed that the hard drive appears to be unmounted. Is this normal? When he pushes the mount button he says it does not make any difference.
Any help? Please?

If Disk Utility is unable to repair the damage, which is not entirely surprising, then you're going to have to resort to a more capable tool like TechTool or DiskWarrior.
One thing you can do is to connect his MBP to yours using FireWire Target Disk Mode…
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=58583
… as this may make life easier as you'll be able to install these tools to your MBP.
Regardless, directory damage is always a possibility whether you use Mac OS X or Windows. The trick is to avoid a hard shutdown as much as possible as this is a common cause for such damage.

Invalid Sibling Link Encountered during Leopard Install

Help! - I have two Intel 20" iMAC's running Tiger 10.4.10 (1GB mem/250MB HD). I used the Leopard family pack to successfully install Leopard on one computer. However, the Leopard install process has crashed my second computer.
I left for 45 minutes after starting the 2nd install. When I returned there was a yellow triangle on the screen warning of an installation problem and telling me to click to restart. When I did the Apple logo and spinny circle appeared for a minute and then the computer shut off. I've run disk utility and now get the following message.
Verify Disk
Invalid Sibling Link
The volume Mac HD needs to be repaired
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
Volume needs repair
Mount Point: Not Mounted
Format: MAC OS Extended (Journaled)
I have tried disk repair from disk utility and fsck_hfs -f from the terminal window. Neither has helped, I continue to see the invalid sibling link error.
What can I do other than reformat and clean install. I have data I want to backup first, then I don't mind doing a clean install. Also I would like to deauthorize my iPod.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
~David

+Invalid Sibling Link+ can usually be fixed by the following utility......
If Disk Utility can't fix it, you'll need a more robust utility for the repair. I would recommend DiskWarrior. It is the best at directory repairs. It rebuilds then actually replaces your old directory. I feel every Mac owner should have a copy. Make sure you get the disk so you can boot up on it to run repairs. You can also install it on another drive and run it from there to repair this one. DW works faster that way.
I use DW once a month to try and catch errors in my system from getting too far out of hand. It has repaired every little and big issue I have ever had with my three Macs.
If you have a good backup, hopefully a clone of your system before you had issues, an Erase and Install will also rid you of this issue. But, beware! You will lose everything on the drive with this procedure. Let us know if you need help with that!
Good Luck! DALE
p.s. Here's a rewiew of DiskWarrior 4.

Invalid sibling link, what's the CAUSE?

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